From the Ashes REBORN
by Sapphirine
Summary: After Trigon's demise, everything seems back to normal for the remaining four Titans. However, when an unexplained fallout crashes 'round their ears, it's clear that this evil has never truly lost. And this time, the Titans must question themselves... just how much of them is truly in their own control? And how much is not... *SEQUEL, will make sense without reading Drifting Apart*
1. Chapter 1

_**{Sorry for the wait, I was on vacation, but now I'm back to pick up the story from Drifting Apart! If you're new, please read and review! It makes sense if you don't read my previous fanfiction, but it'll be clearer.**_

_**Disclaimer: No money. No ownership.**_

_**Now that that's done, please enjoy, read, and review! Updates should be fast!}**_

* * *

Robin was empty.

A second ago, he was.

A second after, he was not.

All in a rush, all in a blur, spinning, whirling, all around and around and around and around, like it would never ever stop, falling fast and furious into nothing, keeling backwards into the-

Hard ground of the training room.

His head slammed hard against the cold tiles of the floor, grunting upon impact as the warmth, the flush of life rushing all back to him like a stalwart dam torn ruthlessly apart by the tumult of unforgiving waters.

_What the-_

Then the alarm.

Red flashes, shrieking siren wail.

Whatever had happened, it'd have to wait.

* * *

Robin stumbled into the living room, mask narrowed in concern, everywhere, all over the control board, the screen, the team.

"What's going on, what happened?" he demanded of a flustered Cyborg, jabbing his armored shoulder, and without waiting for a response, he zoomed over to an equally as bewildered Beastboy, quivering in anxiety and fury. "Tell me what happened!"

"Dude calm down, calm down, you're spazzing out!" Beastboy reassured him, Cyborg vigorously nodding, drawing a finger across his neck in _cut it out _manner. "It's not your old buddy Slade or your ex-girlfriend Kitten or anything! It's just-" he dropped his gaze.

Robin instinctively stepped back, glancing at Cyborg sharply. "Just?"

Cyborg, too, averted his eyes.

"Tell me!" Robin demanded hotly- was it rage or fear that made his entire frame tremble?

Cyborg, finally, was the one who cleared his throat. "There was no crime that activated the alarm. The alarm went off because-"

"Because?" Robin pressed angrily.

Beastboy and Cyborg glanced at each other, bracing themselves visibly.

"Because Raven-" Cyborg continued slowly, breaking off with a nervous swallow.

Robin glanced at Cyborg, to Beastboy, back to Cyborg. No one would meet his eyes.

"What about Raven!" he bellowed. "Tell me! _Now!_"

Cyborg pressed his lips tightly together. "Because Raven's vitals flatlined, Robin. She's gone."

* * *

_**{Will update shortly! I hope you enjoyed, please read and review, you know the drill!}**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**{Ah, I'm back. Did you enjoy? No? Too short? Too rushed? Please give me feedback!}**_

_**{BlankytheRockDorkinsnob- I really am sorry! I've just been museless, I decided to give you guys a decent chapter and wait instead of posting one on time and having it horrible and hopelessly lost!}**_

_**{You guys know the drill, read, enjoy, follow, review!}**_

* * *

_**Reviewers! Thank you!**_

_**All Chapters-**_

_**BlankytheRockDorkinsnob}**_

* * *

There was no melodramatic silence, no gawking mouths, no anything.

Robin wasted no time in barging between the two Titans, shoving them apart crudely as he sprinted for Raven's room. It was like nothing mattered but this fierce anxiety, this furious motivation to get to Raven. This just had to be a set up, a sort of sick joke. He refused to believe this, that she was totally dead.

Because how? It didn't appeal to logic. There was no security breach, no epidemic, no signs that Raven had been descending into sickness, mental, emotional, or physical alike.

Robin pounded on the automatic door, beating at the starkly stamped word _RAVEN_, threatening and begging for her to open up all at once.

Only silence greeted him.

Jabbing frantically at the override code, he literally punched the keypad, desperately shaking the tiny device.

_Bleep. _The friendly green eye blinked to life, smiling at him.

He ignored the eternally unblinking eyes, the haunting theatrical masks, the dark, unwelcoming aura of the silver and indigo runes. He dashed directly to the figure in the centre of the floor.

For it was, indeed, the slender, indigo-clad form of Raven. Her head was thrown oddly back, eyes serenely closed, chakra dim and ashen. Her cloak was half spread across the nondescript grey floor, half draped across her bony frame. She could have been sleeping, she could have woken up and given him that bittersweet little smile that he had worked so studiously to tease out of her.

Had not the alarm sounded.

"Raven!" Robin shouted, shaking her frantically. "Raven, please, answer me!"

To, of course, no avail.

"Raven? Please!"

Then it was clear to him, that she was gone. All of a sudden, he was crying, he was screaming, Cyborg and Beastboy trying to fight him down valiantly, pinning his convulsing form to the ground.

"Yo! Robin! Calm down, man!" Cyborg shouted, conking him on the head. "Calm down!"

Slowly, his breathing eased, quieting, calming. For he was a summer gale- dramatic and terrifying, but quick to pass. Steely and composed, a quiet voice murmured, "Get off me Cyborg."

Cyborg did so in silence.

Kneeling beside the still figure, he lowered his head, glaring intensely at the body of the still girl.

Because her finger twitched.

Robin, glancing to the left and right at his fellow Titans, found them equally as enraptured.

And her eyes opened.

But these were the scarlet eyes of a stranger.

_**{A little rushed, I apologize, but I wanted to get the chapter up. Follow and review, please! Updates coming up!}**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**{Hello, I'm back! Way slower than I hoped for... but. As always, please read, enjoy, review, and follow! Thank you!**_

_**It's a bit confusing, but I thought you'd enjoy, so. Just testing out a new method here, so please tell me your critique! I'd really appreciate it!}**_

* * *

_**{Journeyiscool- Thank you for your support! I'm glad you enjoyed it!**_

_**Karie2055- Yes, I did say I would update faster... I'm sorry... school got in the way with lots of projects and tests. I will try to update faster- it probably won't be, like, a chapter a day, but I'll try to find some time over the weekend to do some serious writing later in the evening.**_

_**About the connection between the events of Drifting Apart and From the Ashes REBORN, there... really is none. xD It's been some time since Drifting Apart and most everything has settled down to normal... then, well, Chapter 1 happened. I should have explained that better, sorry. I wrote that first chapter really late so I was just kind of blind typing... I know I forgot a lot of crucial points that I'll have to explain later on.}**_

* * *

Those red eyes- he couldn't breathe. They held him still, searing a vicious scar into his lungs, a seal of agony burned into his throat. Choking him, strangling the existence right out of him- no! _Don't be silly... _it was just Dark Raven, perhaps, with her frightening complexion and sprawling tentacles, she'd get back into control in a second. Yes, the tentacles- perhaps one was wrapped around his neck, cutting off his breathing, but those eyes-?!

_Down. _He braced himself for impact against the concrete floor, but- nothing?

A plunge into the cold darkness- so shockingly cold, so vivid, so keen and defined. Her darkness.

_(PENETRATE-?!)_

This was not right, no. This was not normal, even relative to Raven herself.

_(INITIALIZE FLOW-?!)_

He had to get out- _now. _

Make her stop.

_(ACCELERATE-?!)_

No, make _it _stop.

_(ZENITH REACHED. BEGIN PROCESS-)_

"Raven-?!" his shocked inquiry snapped off into a sickeningly viscous-sounding choke, a desperate, seemingly underwater gasp for breath.

_(That is not my name)_

Trigon, stop playing your games...

_(That is not my name)_

What are you...

_(are you... you... ou... u...)_

Lights swam before his eyes- no, not lights, darkness. Little black butterflies... they were so odd, yes, these little inkblots? Splatters of ink dancing across a vanilla stage of parchment paper- _no! _He had to stay focused... to gain oxygen- _breathe. _Yes, breathing was good, breathing was living, and living, existing.

_(Wrong)_

He wanted to breathe.

_(No...)_

Live.

_(No.)_

Exist.

_(No!)_

Be.

_(WRONG!)_

Not to cease being...

Not to cease.

_(To cease?)_

No! Not ceasing-?!

_(Ceasing? But, wouldn't it be so much better-?)_

_(TAINT BLACK-?!)_

But it _was _so very cold. Hypnotic snow, covering him like a smothering blanket. Yes, he'd just somnambulate about, then, lost in the cradle of nothingness...

_(Yes...)_

_(CORRUPT BLACK-?!)_

It would feel so good, so peaceful, so _right._

Wouldn't it-?

_(Yes...)_

But what was this-

_pain? _No, it couldn't be... silly brain, this pathetic little lump of grey matter unable even to delve into its deeper self, what did it know? It could not _hurt _here, it was _nothing. _Nothing to cause pain...

then what was this?

_(NOTHING)_

What was this?

_(NOTHING-?)_

What had this become?

_(NOTHING-?!)_

What had he become?

_(NOTHING-!)_

And this ink that pooled, dripping black stars, into the chasm of blackness- what lurked within?

_(MYSTERY...)_

No, he needed to know-

_(ACCEPT IT-?)_

It was nothing good, nothing benevolent, nothing beautiful...

_(ACCEPT IT-?!)_

Some monstrosity-

_(ACCEPT IT!)_

No! He had to climb out, resurface before it pulled him down too far-

_(ACCEPTED... signal processed)_

He was not _it! _No, this was not him, it was Trigon, the trace of Trigon within his daughter...

_(is equal, is TRUE: CREATOR)_

He mustn't fall for his mind games! No!

_(Game is not ready to play quite yet... play game SOON)_

Stop... none of this was real... none of it... none of it... none...

_(all of this was real... all of it... all of it... all-!)_

None of it was real! He clung to it, this spider's thread, glinting within the abyss, the black abyss...

_(boolean: FALSE, error-!)_

It was snapping, slipping, slithering away... no! He had to hold it, cling to it, never let it go- climb upwards...

_(fall DOWNwards)_

Climb!

_(FALL!)_

Climb...?

_(FALL!)_

Climb...

_(FALL!) _

Fall...?

_(boolean: TRUE, proceed with Phase Two)_


	4. Chapter 4

_**{Blanky: Yeah! Booleans! And yes. I think... I don't know. Sorry it was kind of confusing... it'll make sense. Sometime...**_

_**Emmi30307- Thank you ^^ It will all make sense... eventually.}**_

_(signal obtained. please proceed with SYSTEM RUN)_

Deep purple petals fluttered above him, gentle brushes kissing his skin like the wings of gossamer butterflies, tapestry colors shimmering upon the invisible weaver's shuttle of wind. Scintillation of glittering obsidian and darkened amethyst sparkled above the ribbons of black currant wine, spilling their artisan elixir into the transparent glass of empty space.

He did not quite remember how he got here.

_(trace code: phase 1)_

It was dark then, very dark, yes?

Ah, yes. He remembered. Of no matter... that was the turbulent past. And, just as it simple as it was, he had passed through the storm, overcome this _difference _they, foolish mortals, had so fervently embraced.

Diversity, hah. Lovers of chaos, adoration of the ugly and deficient.

_(deleted, SUCCESS)_

It was peaceful here. He smiled, and turned his face upwards to the disk of liquid silver that pooled upon the velvet sky. It was so lovely, yes? So much more better than- than what? He couldn't quite grasp it. What was before-?

_(permanently delete? YES)_

No, the door had been closed... he shrugged. It didn't matter, there was no need nor desire to backtrack his way back into that "advanced" mess of so-called  
"modern life". Yes, this was his realm.

_(signal MATCH. system is running well)_

Nothing could stop him here.

But...

_(bridge code: Phase 2 is complete. Phase {private class} has successfully been transferred to Phase 1. Merge?)_

He had to re-enter _him, _he supposed. He could not let such potential simply go to waste...

_(repeat: Merge?)_

He smiled, checking his reflection in the pool of crystal reflected at his feet, smoothing back his jet-black hair. The moon was lustrous, full. The ancient peoples, the olden civilizations, those that pursued beauty, they loved this elegant discus of argent perfection.

It was a perfect night for fantastical undertakings.

They always said that true beauty was complete order, n-est-pas?

_(boolean: TRUE, proceed)_

Oh, he certainly would grant him that.

_Yes_, he decided, he commanded.

_**-MERGE-**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**{Blanky: Yay for Java language! I wanted to use the original syntax but I don't want to make errors... so...**_

_**Emmi30307: Thank you xD**_

_**Guest: Eh, sorry. It'll all make sense**** eventually.**_

_**Sorry guys the different parts are not very well distinguished. Also, I have no idea what a telemetry sounds/acts like, so I... just assumed... please correct me if I'm inaccurate. I hate being inaccurate.}**_

_( .Println ("Do you hear them? Disembodied voices? They seem so far away"))_

_(if actioncommand is true: RunClass: "Phase1")_

"Robin? Robin, wake up,"

(silence)

_(actioncommand is FALSE. ERROR)_

"Dude, this _isn't_ funny! Answer me! Please? I'll stop annoying you! Waitwaitwaitwait... what happened to the not-telephone thing?"

(silence)

"Holy tofu, is he _dead? _Dude, don't just _die_ on us like Raven!"

"Beastboy. Firstly, it's called a _telemetry. __T-E-L-E-M-E-T-R-Y, nine letters. _Secondly, I am evidently _not dead_. And _neither is he_. Calm _down_."

"If you say so..."

_(run again?)_

(silence)

_(__actioncommand is FALSE. ERROR)_

_(then, RunClass: "Phase2".)_

(blip?)

_(success: running Class "Phase2". Proceed...)_

(TICKTICKTICK- blip? TICKTICKTICK- blipblip? TICK-blipblipblipblipblipBLIPBLIPBLIPBLIPBLIP)

"Hold him down! He's going into shock!"

(blip? TICK. blipTICK blipblipTICK)

"Or... not."

There was no dramatic backlash, no wheezing first breath, no scream from suddenly jolting awake from the nightmarish depths of the dark subconscious.

He rose gracefully onto his hands to the eyes of the bewildered Titans, smoothing back tussled raven hair until it laid perfectly swept back from his unblemished brow.

At their confused looks and dubious muttering, he merely smiled. A perfect, orderly smile, innocent, angelic. Chiseled elegantly not too wide to be obnoxious, nor too narrow to be patronizing. Not too much in the center to be childish, not too much to the side to be sarcastic.

"Why good evening," greeted a too-perfect Robin to the nonplussed audience of three clueless Titan. "Care for a cup of tea?"


	6. Chapter 6

_**{Aw, I forgot the 's' at the end of the plural word 'Titans'. Oh well...**_

_**Blanky- Did it not make sense? I thought I explained it okay previously...}**_

"That is _not _Robin," said an ever oh-so-eloquent Beastboy.

"And I thought I'd never see to live the day which I would agree with Beastboy," Raven agreed apathetically. "I'm slipping."

Robin smiled, tilting his head intuitively to one side. "Of course it is me, don't be silly. I am still Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, I will always be. It is merely an updated version of me, if you will- Cyborg, you understand."

"Last time I tried to update myself did not end too well," Cyborg remarked matter-of-factly as he pulled on a latex glove, giving it a professional _snap!_ "I'm taking you apart, you impostor, until I get the _real _leader of the team back. Impersonators, they're the absolute _worst_. Just lemme gt my gear- _yo, Beastboy, where'd you hide my stuff this time?! Show me ya little grass stain or I'll-!_"

"There is no need for that, Cyborg. Leave our little green friend alone." Robin cut in calmly, waving a hand in careless dismissal. "I assure you that I am Robin. If you would like, you can ask me identity questions or anything of the like, if it suits your conveniences. I am well prepared to answer all of them because, well, of course, I am me. Just, please, there is no need to 'take me apart'."

"Fantastic." Cyborg muttered. "Marty Stu Robin."

"Merry Christmas- and a Happy New Year," put in Beastboy spontaneously.

"Er, excuse me?"

"I didn't get that right, did I? Oh, whatever. I'll have to listen more carefully to the TV next time around."

"... okay, then." Cyborg decided to shelve that random input for now and move on.

Robin cleared his throat with the professionalism of a naturally born and raised artisan (which he mostly certainly was not), giving his pleasant sunny-day, yet unnerving smile again. "So- I apologize for the crude reiteration, but,_ care for a cup of tea_?"

_**{Short, random chapter. Think of this chapter and the previous one to be parts one and two of Chapter 5, if you will. I just needed to split it so this chapter was not too overly long. I considered either merging it into the last or the next, but finally decided to put it as its own as both would be kind of awkward.**_

_**Please, if you have time, leave a review! I cherish them greatly. Going to get to work on the next update!}**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**{Oh, and whoever can tell me what these references are from first gets a waffle. Or a pancake, whichever you prefer. Whenever I hide a reference, I shall alert you and see if you can catch it for the incentive of a binary-coded breakfast item.**_

_**I must give credit to both Blanky and PalmerPie for the TV rating line. I'm not sure who came up with it first, so.**_

_**Blanky, I know you can easily guess what it is (considering you were the person to introduce the source to me), so give someone else a shot. xD Here's your waffle, by the way. -hands Blanky a waffle-**_

_**Blanky: Yes, they did. Don't fret, they'll return, in one way or another.}**_

"I'll play mother," remarked Robin as he efficiently changed the tea leaves' bath, pouring fresh liquid gently onto the delicate flora as he brought the teapot to the counter, placing it gently on the yellow-tinted glass with a quite _click_.

"None for me, thanks,"

"I second that opinion,"

Robin shrugged. Of course Beastboy and Cyborg did not care for tea. He put away their cups. Why Raven bothered to get a set of with four, he didn't know.

Beastboy grinned. "Sorry, I've never been too fond of tea." He jumped to his feet, grinning at Cyborg. "Let's go, dude. Take a spin around town or something, I heard there's a new pie place,"

Cyborg smirked back. "Is that an _eating challenge I hear, _grass stain?"

"It sure is, chrome dome,"

They both walked out, punching each other in the arm and chuckling to themselves. "We'll leave you two lovebirds some private time. Keep it PG guys!"

"Excuse me?" Robin snapped, his perfectly perfect countenance wavering for a moment.

"And that is an entire childhood in a nutshell," Raven noted dryly as she drew her hands back to make room as Robin carefully passed out the tea china which she had so dutifully protected from the mischief-making, anti-civilized dining duo.

"I didn't know you liked tea, Robin," probed Raven conversationally as her dark tanzanite optics flickered across his masked ones.

"I have never opposed it," replied Robin, with an equal if not more obscuring poker face.

To this, Raven merely shrugged. Robin was a difficult case to snoop around in, despite the two's previously established relationship. "Robin. Is something wrong?"

"I'd better get the tea." he dismissed quickly. "It'll be too bitter if it sits too long," Swiftly, he busied himself with carefully serving the tea to himself and Raven with an expression of extreme concentration. "Tea making and serving is a prestigious art, as you probably already know,"

"Robin." she pressed, ignoring the normally Raven-approved observation of tea. "Don't change the subject."

He lifted his eyes to hers. "No. There is nothing wrong. Why would you ask?"

Raven picked up her tea elegantly with two tapered fingers, sipping out of it quietly. "Intuition, I suppose," she noted vaguely.

He nodded, understanding. "Well... I just remembered about that one criminal I still have to track down," he excused himself quickly. "See you around Raven. If you need me, you know where to look."

He sprinted out of the room, leaving a surfeit of questions in his wake.

"You don't have a criminal to catch," Raven muttered. "The city hasn't had a single criminal alert in months."

She didn't know who he was, or _what_ he was.

Of one thing she was sure- that was most definitely _not _Robin.


	8. Chapter 8

_**{Wow. Really museful lately.**_

**_REFERENCE_**_** SPOILER ALERT: The reference from Chapter 7 is from Sherlock BBC 2012 Series, A Scandal in Belgravia. The Chapter 6 reference is from The Great Game, also from Sherlock.**_

_**Another reference-ish in here. Also worth a binary-code breakfast item.}**_

Robin stumbled into the study, hissing as he was whacked openly in the face by a still-opening automatic door. Groping around for the light switch, he threw it on, the door slipping shut behind him in a single, fluid moment.

_Click._

He was alone.

Invisible.

Singular.

Soundproof.

Excellent. The way he liked it.

Plopping down into the nondescript office swivel chair, he spun around in it a few times, calming himself down. _No. She couldn't have guessed, she couldn't. Why would she ever suspect? After all, I had just been knocked unconscious, any flaws in my performance could easily be attributed to that. _He nodded. _Yes. I must simply try harder not to try harder. After all, realism is of the essence here._

He exhaled, slamming his elbow into the wood grain desk as he rested his forehead against one clenched fist. _Calm. Natural. Be unassuming. A modest hero._

It was quite difficult for him to be unassuming. Even more so a modest hero.

_No! I can't!_

He couldn't take this any further, he had to relax and regather his act. Refresh, reload. Then he would be even better, even more convincing, even more effective.

He shook his head. Efficiency was not a major concern here. Glibness was, fluidity.

In short, perfection.

After all, time _was _on his side.

He smiled, a vicious, un-Robin-like smile. Bestial, even, with that crazed glint igniting into an inferno of insanity in his unseen eyes. Rubbing his temples, he concentrated, the features of Robin melting into a sludge of grey smoke, dissipating with a sibilant _hiss _into wispy vapors.

What remained was demonic.

A dull greyish chrysolite pallor glowed faintly as the sickly hue swallowed up Robin's healthy, apricot skin, transforming it, mutilating it. Sharp features became impossibly sharper, an unseen force carving deeper eye sockets, suffocating them with shadow and darkness. Fuchsia-crimson eyes glittered malevolently, shrouded in sinful lies and devilish temptation, fatal pride and corrupted arrogance.

Silly mortals. They clung to anything, even the most delicate of gossamer threads- even if, at the zenith of this lifeline, crouched a particularly grotesque and venomous spider, lying in wait for its foolish prey.

He laughed, a horrible noise that began as a crackle of hungry wildfire in the pit of his throat, expanding, blossoming, into a horrendous cacophony of screams, wails, shrieks- the tortured noises of chaotic humanity.

Flawed humanity, imperfect humanity.

He had absorbed them, improved them, refined them, and yet they still screamed. So ungrateful, these squawking and disordered humans.

He had made them perfect.

He had established order amongst their ranks.

And if true beauty was perfect order- then perfect order was true beauty.

Then, it was quite beautiful.

In fact, it was the most beautiful thing the universe had ever known.

Just wait until his sisters and brothers arrived.


	9. Chapter 9

_**{REFERENCE SPOILER ALERT:**__**The reference from last chapter was from Kuroshitsuji (Black Bulter). Season 1, Episode 5 "His Butler, at the Funeral".**_

_**There is no reference in this one, unfortunately. There will be in the next.**_

_**Any confusion with the soundproofed study, evidently in the series Robin can hear the other Titans knocking on the door, so assume it's soundproofed from the inside out. Not very practical, but it's important to the story, so.}**_

Raven drifted aimlessly down the darkened hall, hovering a few inches above the grey concrete floor. Turning corners randomly, she wove between the endless of halls and staircases of Titans Tower, her purplish black eyes fluttering closed just to flash open, flickering across the nondescript style of the walls and flooring.

"Robin, Robin, Robin," she muttered under her breath.

Not noting her path at all, she was immersed deeply in her own thoughts, assuming a mediating state of mind, chanting Robin's name over and over again like a mantra as if it would help her solve her mystery.

That is, until she had a too-close encounter with the Tower's steel doors.

She slammed bodily into a _very _hard surface as a slightly undignified squeak of surprise escaped her normally strictly sealed lips, staggering back a few steps (were they steps when you were levitating?) to crash heavily onto her posterior.

"Ow." she noted flatly.

Picking herself up, she dusted herself off, and glared at the door angrily, actually shaking a threatening fist at it as she prepared to blast it down just out of boredom- until she bothered to read the label.

_STUDY AND ANALYSIS_

Ah. She'd have to show it who was boss around here some other day.

She knocked.

* * *

Robin jerked up, hearing the loud bang outside as his eyes widened, his skin coating over with a translucent liquid, enriching it back to natural apricot as it dispersed into the air.

A quiet knock followed.

Oh gosh. He had to hurry. Invent an excuse for not immediately opening the door like Robin would have.

Natural, natural, fluid, fluid.

This was neither natural nor fluid, he realized despondently.

He smoothed his hair back, slamming the access on the side of the desk, trying to slow down his breathing rate.

The door slid open.

Raven stepped in.

She glanced at him, one eyebrow arched as usual.

Raven, however, does not usually gasp, nor does her hand fly to her mouth suddenly.

_Had I forgotten something? _Robin wondered swiftly, his heart leaping into his mouth, struggling violently to escape and quite possibly explode.

Yes.

He had.

The mask.

The eyes.

The scarlet eyes.


End file.
